A reader for pleasure and a reviewer to spread the love of great books. My mantras, 'you can never have too many books' and 'time spent reading is never time wasted'. Books are my passport to many times, places, and experiences, and I want to stamp them all. I focus most of my read on LGBTQIA and comics, so any comic with gay leads then I want to read it.

This is a 'new to me' author. It appears they have released 10 books since Dec 2016 which always makes me wonder if it is another writing collective. Anyway, regardless I'm here to review this book not the entire back catalogue.

The cover of this book is deceiving, I thought this was an historical. Then when I first started reading I did wonder if maybe it was a paranormal and Cornell had actually gone back in time. What it is really is a contemporary about a family stuck in the past and clinging to its former glory by its finger tips. For some its about the money, for others it about the prestige and legacy. For our MC, Hayes, it's about protecting the land.

As the subtitle (which is a self-publishing marketing technique that I hate btw) tells us, this is styled on gothic novels of old and brings it up to date. The tone of it is moody, atmospheric, and creepy.

I liked that we got most of the story (in 1st person) from Cornell's pov, the outsider pulled by circumstances into the strange atmosphere of the house. However every so often we get a 1st person pov from Hayes, the broody son and heir of the house. These chapters are important in our sympathy for Hayes' situation, without them some readers may find Hayes a difficult character to like.

There is a degree of suspension of disbelief required, the whole family seems stuck in another century with no internet/mobile phones etc.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating watching the family reach breaking point as Hayes 30th birthday approached and terms of a will needed fulfilling. And honestly those chapters in Hayes pov quite often broke my heart, this man trapped in his upbringing, and tied up in his desire to protect his property, and fighting his true desires.